Same People, but New Happiness
by Windrises
Summary: It's been five months since Sakaki graduated from high school. While walking to the pet shop she meets up with Kaorin. Sakaki offers to have Kaorin join her for a walk, but she's unaware that Kaorin is in love with her.


Note: Azumanga Daioh is an anime by the studio J.C. Staff and is based on a manga by Kiyohiko Azuma.

Five months passed since Sakaki and her eccentric classmates graduated high school. Sakaki had been always been impressed by the cuteness of cats. She enjoyed all kinds of cats. She was such a big fan of cats that she had a newspaper subscription just so she could have a copy of every single Garfield comic strip. She even dressed as Ava, the princess cat of Pocketville, on Halloween.

Due to how much she loved cats she wanted a job that involved cats in some way. After a few months of searching for a purrfect job she got a job as the assistant to an animal doctor.

Sakaki was still single. She had never dated anybody before. Although several boys had a crush on her during high school she rarely noticed. One of Sakaki's fellow students, Kaorin, was in love with Sakaki. However Sakaki was often too distracted by other things going on in her life to know about how Kaorin felt. After high school was over Kaorin desperately hoped that she would get to see Sakaki again. For five months they didn't see each other.

One day Sakaki was walking to a nearby pet shop to get some cat food for the animal vet patients who keep forgetting to feed their cats. While walking to the shop she accidentally bumped into Kaorin. Sakaki said, "I'm sorry for not being more careful."

Kaorin was super excited to see Sakaki again, but she tried to remain calm while speaking. She replied, "No need to be sorry Sakaki."

Sakaki paused for a moment and asked, "Didn't we go to school together?"

Kaorin was secretly mad at Sakaki. After having feelings for Sakaki for so long she was upset that Sakaki only had brief memories of her. Despite her anger she felt that she couldn't blame Sakaki for it. Although Kaorin wasn't the master of hiding feelings she never directly told Sakaki how she felt and she only talked to Sakaki for a few minutes at a time. Kaorin said, "We did go to the same high school. We even had some classes together."

Sakaki asked, "Isn't your name Kaorin?"

Kaorin smiled, because Sakaki at least remembered her name. Kaorin said, "You're right about my name. Um, I've missed you."

Sakaki said, "Thank you. That's sweet of you."

Kaorin asked, "What have you been up to in recent months?"

Sakaki said, "I'm working at a place that cures pets."

Kaorin replied, "That's nice. I'm working at a DVD renting place."

Sakaki said, "Most of those types of stores are gone."

Kaorin laughed nervously and said, "I don't think I'll have the same job in five years."

Sakaki said, "I hope that you can excuse me, because I have to go get something that's important for my job."

Kaorin wanted to ask Sakaki out, but she was scared. However she didn't want to go another five months without seeing Sakaki so she asked, "Will you go somewhere with me?"

Sakaki asked, "What are you talking about?"

Kaorin nervously said, "I want a chance to catch up."

Sakaki said, "I'm going for a walk tonight at eight. If you text me your address we can meet up at your house."

Kaorin could barely hide her excitement while saying, "Okay."

A few minutes later Sakaki started shopping for pet food at a pet store. She looked around at the limited selection. She sighed and said, "Fisher Biskit ordered a majority of the good food for his pet shop. Because of that it's almost impossible to always have enough pet food around here."

Sakaki's cell phone rang. Sakaki grabbed her phone and asked, "Who's there?"

Chiyo said, "Hi Sakaki. I was shopping for groceries and bumped into Tomo."

Tomo asked, "What's up?"

Sakaki answered, "Mostly normal stuff."

Tomo replied, "I can't relate to that. I've been getting into a lot of trouble. I've lost three jobs in the past five months. It's tons of fun."

Chiyo said, "Tomo and I are going to have a little reunion tonight. Osaka might come too. You're invited."

Sakaki replied, "I'm meeting up with an old friend. Maybe she and I can come."

Chiyo asked, "Who are you meeting up with?"

Sakaki answered, "Kaorin. She and I are going for a walk after work."

Chiyo asked, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Sakaki was confused so she asked, "Why would it be a bad idea?"

Chiyo asked, "Do you know how Kaorin feels?"

Sakaki asked, "What are you talking about?"

Tomo answered, "She's obsessed with you."

Chiyo said, "Tomo, you were supposed to word that in a less weird way."

Tomo replied, "But that wouldn't be as amusing."

Sakaki asked, "Chiyo, did Kaorin actually have a crush on me during high school?"

Chiyo said, "Yeah."

Sakaki responded, "Now I feel like a jerk. I barely remembered her name or the fact that we went to the same high school together."

Tomo laughed and said, "You're so clueless."

Chiyo replied, "Tomo, please stay out of this conversation."

Tomo said, "Fine."

Chiyo asked, "Are you still going to walk with Kaorin tonight?"

Sakaki said, "Of course. I would disappoint her if I didn't."

Chiyo responded, "But she might get sad after she finds out that you don't like her as much as she likes you."

Sakaki replied, "I'll take care of things gracefully."

Sakaki often walked and ran around the city for exercise. She did it around eight at night, because of how beautiful the sky looked at that time. She usually wore a regular t-shirt, running shorts, and a jacket.

Sakaki wasn't sure how she should dress this time. Sakaki thought if she wore her normal running clothes Kaorin might feel disrespected by the lack of effort, but if she wore fancy clothes she might accidentally trick Kaorin into thinking that they were going on a real date. She didn't have much time left so she picked her running outfit and one of her higher quality jackets.

Two minutes after eight at night Sakaki arrived at Kaorin's house. She gently knocked on the door. Kaorin opened the door wearing a new purple shirt and a white skirt.

Sakaki said, "Hi Kaorin."

Kaorin replied, "Hi Sakaki. I'm ready to start our walk."

Sakaki said, "Okay. After we're done with our walk we might pay Chiyo and the others a visit."

Kaorin replied, "Okay."

Sakaki and Kaorin started walking around the city together. Sakaki stared at the lovely sky while Kaorin looked at Sakaki. Kaorin blushed and said, "You're beautiful."

Sakaki replied, "Um, thank you."

Kaorin asked, "How do I look?"

Sakaki answered, "Um, very nice."

Kaorin asked, "What do you mean?"

Sakaki was nervous and confused about what to say. After a long pause and said, "You look sweet and you dressed a lot better than I did tonight."

Kaorin asked, "Aren't you cold in your running outfit?"

Sakaki answered, "Not really. A little cold brings a comforting feeling to me."

Kaorin said, "Unique opinion. Most people like to wear sweaters and long pants at times like this."

Sakaki responded, "Being unique is a more rewarding experience."

Kaorin looked at Sakaki's hands and started holding one. Kaorin said, "Your hands looked cold so I'm holding one. I can hold the other one on the walk home."

Sakaki responded, "Um, okay." Sakaki looked over at Kaorin. Kaorin was blushing, because she was excited about the hand holding. Sakaki gently let go.

Kaorin asked, "What's up?"

Sakaki answered, "I've had a lot of confusing emotions today."

Kaorin said, "Huh?"

Sakaki said, "Earlier today I only had a small amount of memories about who you are and now we're hanging out." A pair of tears fell out of her eyes.

Kaorin nervously asked, "What's wrong?"

Sakaki answered, "I'm so sorry for not knowing how you felt about me. I was a clueless fool during high school. I probably disappointed you and broke your confidence several times."

Kaorin started holding Sakaki's hand again and said, "Don't feel sadness, because of me. Even getting to be in the same classroom as you always brought a blushing smile to my face."

Sakaki had a few more tears go down her face while saying, "You're so sweet. I've never had anybody care about me with so much passion and that's my fault. I ignored people and mostly focused on cats. Despite my ignorance towards how you felt you somehow managed to fall in love with me and that's the most heartwarming thing that I've ever seen." Kaorin started having tears coming out of her eyes. Sakaki nervously asked, "Did I make you cry?"

Kaorin answered, "These are tears of happiness." Sakaki felt relieved.

Sakaki said, "I don't want to ignore you anymore. I want to know more about you."

Kaorin replied, "The biggest thing that you should know is that you're the person that I love the most."

Sakaki said, "We can revisit our old friends later. I want be with you just you for now."

Kaorin smiled and replied, "There's nobody else in the world that I'd rather hang out with."

Sakaki said, "The market across the street is still open. Lets go get an evening snack and soda."

Kaorin replied, "Okay."

Sakaki and Kaorin went to the market and got a bag of chips and a fountain soda. They continued walking together while holding hands and telling each other about their lives and hobbies.

After a relaxing half hour of walking and talking Sakaki asked, "Do you think that someday you'll forgive me for being so insensitive to you?"

Kaorin said, "This night was enough to make me forgive you and it made me like you even more."

Sakaki said, "You're too sweet to me. I deserve to live a life as a crazy cat lady for how clueless I've been."

Kaorin asked, "How can I prove to you that you're a nice woman that I've forgiven?"

Sakaki tried to hold back tears while she said, "I don't know."

Kaorin walked closer to Sakaki and kissed her on the lips. Kaorin said, "I hope you can forgive me, but I wanted to cheer you up."

Sakaki said, "That felt nice. I've never been in love before."

Kaorin held Sakaki's hand and said, "I'm in love with you. I've loved you since we started going to high school."

Sakaki said, "During the past five months I felt like something was missing, but I didn't know what it was. Tonight I realized it was you. Even though my brain didn't know you a part of my heart felt sad without you around."

Kaorin started crying happy tears again while saying, "This night has been too magical. I've had dreams like this. Is this really happening?"

Sakaki smiled and said, "It is."

Kaorin replied, "I'm glad."

Sakaki started walking Kaorin home. On the way there they smiled at each other with blushes on their faces.

Ten minutes later Sakaki and Kaorin finished their walk. Sakaki said, "This time I spent with you made me realize that I need to pay more attention and it made me realize that I really like you."

Kaorin replied, "This is the happiest news that I've ever gotten."

Sakaki said, "Walking alone with the dark sky is a lovely sight, but it does get lonely. Would you like to join me on my future walks?"

Kaorin answered, "Yes."

Sakaki said, "I'll see you tomorrow night at eight."

Kaorin responded, "I love you."

Sakaki thought about what to say. After realizing her true feelings and having some confidence in herself she replied, "I love you too."


End file.
